Making Indian sweets at home could be tricky since most of these require perfect consistency of sugar syrup to obtain perfect texture of sweet dish. While some Indian sweets are little forgiving when it comes to syrup consistency (malpua, rasgulla, gulabjamun etc), the texture of batter/dough needs to be perfect for satisfactory results in such cases. For some sweets, the temperature is a deciding factor while some like laddoo need ‘tagar’, a most crucial ingredient to nail the texture and flavours, made by re crystallizing sugar syrup, by vigorously mixing it off flame, till it turns into a coarse powder.…
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I was waiting in the queue at a checkout counter of a mall and there were these two boys ahead of me, pushing a trolley full of soft drink cans, chips, cookies, frozen food and the kind and they were discussing about the movies that they can download and playlist of party songs that they need to decide upon. The kids, not even in their teens, were shopping crazily and I couldn’t help but compare their swag with my boorish persona when I was in my teens.I have very distinct memories of my childhood when kids in neighborhood would get…
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You may be a successful doctor or a budding artist, a struggling actor or a respected teacher, a guy from IIT or a girl from engineering college, a newly-wed bride or a doting mother, a proud father, a hopelessly romantic guy or a stressed out businessman; but if you are looking out for a refreshing change in your lives or hunting for the ways to prove your mettle and if cooking is your passion then here is a once- in- a lifetime- opportunity for you…. If cooking is not a mundane chore for you, if baking delicious bread or a…
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The four ‘R’ rules were religiously followed by our so called conservative older generation people. From what I observed in my home and around, I can easily say that our parents and grandparents were concerned about the environment way before the younger generation started making a hue and cry about global warming. Sticking to the food and kitchen related practices, let me share some examples! 1) Reduce: Much care was taken to store large quantities of spices, vegetables, pickles etc by storing food in proper way and thereby reducing the spoilage or wastage. Huge trunks were used to store 50-100…
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Apart from the quintessential Papad, pickle, Kadhi and Saibhaji, Sindhis are well known for their love for the lotus stem and they are the most avid eaters of this slightly nutty, mildly sweet, crunchy stem. Their insatiable appetite for Beeh is the reason that lotus stems are particularly found in markets in and around Sindhi populated areas. Beeh (Lotus stem), dhodhee/Pabhora (lotus seeds) and Lohr (corm) are the parts of Lotus plant that Sindhis eat with great relish. While our Beeh paalak is bit similar to Kashmiri Nadru paalak (Paalak nadir) and our gravy based beeh curries are similar to…
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It is that time of the year when Indians are busy cleaning their homes and shops, decorating it with flowers, lights and lanterns, buying new clothes, making sweets and savories and visiting relatives, family and friends. Yes, it’s Diwali, the festival of lights, when the evening shimmers with rows of tiny flames of earthen lamps and when the darkest new moon night (as per Hindu calendar) is turned into one of the brightest, glowing night by the hundreds of lamps and lanterns, swaying outside homes and shops, on terraces and crossroads. The spectacular display of fireworks fills the sky with…
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My hubby’s grandmother often used to talk about some lost Sindhi recipes and the way vegetables and other ingredients lack the original flavors. She would rant about the ‘not so fragrant’ fenugreek leaves, insipid spinach and flavorless ghee and would compare it with the quality of ingredients that were available in the past. She would frown at the sight of lack luster parathas and would ask for a dollop of ghee or white butter to bring parathas to life. Her ‘old food’ stories would often be about the succulent meat curries, exotic ‘sand-pit-cooked’ fishes, Doli ji roti (a fried poori…













